When Dan Escaped
by SerenSplash989
Summary: One-Shot: "Deep inside the workings of Clockwork's lair, a silver dented thermos burst open." Dark Dan knew he would make his way out of that blasted thermos someday, and that when he did, he would finally be free to wreak havoc all across the world... or so he thought...


Deep inside the workings of Clockwork's lair, a silver dented thermos burst open.

"Finally," laughed an evil voice menacingly, his dark eyes taking in his gloomy surroundings. "I'm finally free." He looked over to see Clockwork standing in front of a time bubble, where he was watching time whiz by in such a speed that, to the human or even ghostly eye, it was almost impossible to see. The ghost who had escaped the thermos, Dark Dan, laughed once more before flying towards the giant doors of the lair. He only had one thing in mind: to continue where he had left off in the future; destroying the Earth and Ghost Zone along with it, with no one to stand in his way.

He burst open the door using his powers and flew towards the opening… only to gasp and jump backwards.

"What is this?!" he hissed. He stepped forward, out of the boundaries of the lair, and saw his foot slowly disintegrate. He pulled back, watching his foot form together again. He tried his hand, but the same thing happened. His face turned red with rage.

"CLOCKWORK!" shouted Dark Dan, flying towards the Master of Time with his voice on the brink of being a ghostly wail. He vaguely noticed a small smirk on Clockwork's usually straight face. "What is this meaning of this?! Why can't I leave your lair?!" He hovered menacingly over the ghost, who was still standing still, staring at the time stream. He slowly turned around, his face devoid of all emotion except for the small smile he couldn't hide.

"Dan, you're living outside of time right now," said Clockwork, his voice filled with the knowledge of everything as he switched between his three forms- past, present, and future. "The reason you can't leave my lair is because here, we are outside of the time stream, but out there," he indicated towards the door of his lair, "Time is still moving forward." He turned back towards the bubble. Outraged, Dan flew towards him, interrupting his staring of the time stream. Clockwork, who obviously knew he was going to do this, backed up before he could get all up in his face.

"Then send me back to the future so I can continue to destroy it!" he hissed, his long, snake-like tongue quivering between his spiky teeth. Clockwork merely chuckled at Dark Dan's attempt to scare him.

"What future?" he asked him as he waved his hand, displaying multiple futures for young Daniel Fenton, who, one month ago had just saved the world from the Disasteroid. Dark Dan flew over to the time bubbles, looking over every single one, his rage growing each time he didn't find the future he was looking for.

"These futures…" he said to Clockwork. "None of them are where I come from!" His eyes glowed furiously. "How can that be?!"

"Danny no longer has the option to become you, therefore that is no longer one of his futures." Clockwork actually smiled broadly at the bright futures that lied ahead for Daniel. This seemed to anger Dark Dan even more.

"That can't be!" he cried out. His eyes were ablaze as he stared upon Clockwork's calm, serene figure. "He MUST become me! He WILL become me!"

Clockwork simply shook his head. "Danny is different now. He made the right choice by choosing not to cheat on the CAT's, and he is much different from you. For instance," he flew over to another time bubble, showing Dark Dan different instances that proved Danny could never become Dark Dan. "Danny mastered his Ghostly Wail ten years before you," he displayed a bubble showing Danny using his Wail before going to another bubble, "He discovered his ice powers, which you weren't able to since this power needs the capabilities that lied in his human side to activate them," he showed him Danny defeating Undergrowth using his powers, "And, what sealed his fate," he showed him the bubble with the Disasteroid incident. "He exposed himself to the world and trapped Vlad in space, where he can never separate Danny from his ghost half, and the finally saved the world, giving him all the support he would need to never have even the slightest of chance to become you." He turned towards Dark Dan. "So leave my lair if you choose, but if you do, you'll become nothing but dust blowing in the wind."

This made Dark Dan go over the top. "THEN GO BACK IN TIME AND CHANGE DANNY'S FUTURE SO THAT I WILL DESTROY THE WORLD!" His hair flared up.

Clockwork sighed. "Why would I do that?" he asked with a shake of his head.

Dark Dan grinned malevolently. "Because otherwise, I will use my Ghostly Wail to destroy your lair, the time stream along with it!"

"…Then you will die anyways."

"I don't care," he hissed. "That's what I want! To destroy everything and anything!" Clockwork ignored him, turning around to watch Danny's futures. It always warmed his old, ghostly heart (er, if he had one…) to see how happy Daniel's futures turned out to be. He actually visited them quite often, one because the Observants worry about him becoming Dark Dan again (they really are quite stupid sometimes) and two, because it was always interesting to watch events unfold in his favorite ghost boy's life… although, he did have a fondness for his son, who stopped by quite often doing errands for his mother and father…

This angered Dark Dan though, so he took a deep breath, preparing to unleash his Wail. Clockwork shook his head, hitting the top of his staff to pause time. He turned around, smiling at the ridiculous face of Dark Dan before he did his Ghostly Wail. Even though his lair existed outside of time, he could still control it inside, if he allowed it. He grabbed another thermos, which was a much stronger version of the one previously used on Dan that he had acquired from Danny's parents after explaining the situation, and sucked the troublesome ghost into it. Then he hit the top of his staff again and unfroze time. He waited a few seconds before a loud "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" boomed from the thermos. Clockwork chuckled, grabbing the thermos and carefully placing it in a small room.

"Till next time, Dan." He chuckled, remembering how many times in the near future Dan will attempt to escape… and fail miserably.

He then turned towards the time stream, watching Danny's futures play out. A smile crept onto his lips.

"All is as it should be," he mumbled.


End file.
